Roses Aren’t Always Red

Déjà Vu

August's eyes roamed the room once more and she felt the moment they fell upon her.

His glare was icy at most but it lasted only a moment, his smile widened as Arthur and Jay took their seats.

"It's an honour to meet you all. This has been a project long overdue but finalised at last. I am looking forward to working with all of you and getting to know all the components of this estute staff body. Murale has opportunity and Arthur here has brought me on board to revive that potential that it found reputation in, and I'm sure we'll be a top seller soon. Very soon." He said confidently. He finally sat down and allowed Arthur to speak.

"This was an introductory meeting but the smaller meetings to settle events will occur from now till year end however there is something we ought to settle immediately...uh... Queenie?" Arthur searched for her

"Sir?" Her voice came out stronger than expected

"Ah! Now August, Queenie came with a pitch about social media and our need to maximize our presence online, now from our earlier meeting I saw you had a lot of digital, creative, content marketing and management requirements and that you needed someone on it asap..."

"Yes I do remember." He replied coolly

"Right. Queenie is your woman." Arthur slapped the desk.

Silence filled the room.

"Jay here can attest to her skill and she is more than qualified to help on that so you two can immediately connect as soon as this is over, just to gloss over your aspects"

"Right of course Arthur, we'll sort that out."

With a nod he looked away.

The meeting dragged on for half an hour more and soon enough they were dismissed. Queenie was quick to scramble our of her seat until she heard a voice.

"Ms...Jackson?"

Turning around she sucked her lips in and let out a non-committal sound.

"Queenie Jackson is it?"

The room emptied and only Jay was left as the door was shut.

"August." She sighed

His body momentarily moved to Jay but Queenie was quick to interject, "He knows. He was at the club last night he knows everything at this point."

"Oh god."

"Yeah." Jay said under his breath awkwardly

"Okay this is not a big deal." He said as he ran a hand through his hair walking towards her

"What how is this not a big deal?!" She whisper yelled

He stopped in front of her, "Now wait a minute-"

"Don't you see how embarrassing this is for me?" Queenie covered her face as she groaned

"What do you mean?" He scoffed

"I f****d my boss." She said

"Okay technically I wasn't your boss yesterday - this only happened now okay?"

"Don't try downplay this." She laughed ironically at him

"I'm not Queenie okay listen, last night I met a girl who made my head spin and I was all about you, and I know it may sound disappointing or scary but I still am into you, Queen, it's me you're speaking to." His voice dropped to a whisper

"August we work together now, I can't be f*****g my boss and it's just not right and - It's just not my thing okay?" She said stepping away from him.

"Why are you complicating this? Look you don't expect me to smash and leave do you?" He said with a frown

"I honestly wouldn't be surprised."

"Come on please, Listen to me, don't ruin this please. I am begging you."

Queenie felt nothing but conflicted as she backed away

"I'm sorry, I have to go."

She quickly gave him the slip and walked out

"Queenie!" He tried but held back with a grunt.

"Give her a moment." Jay said with a pat on his shoulder as he ran after her.

But Queenie was unwilling. She locked herself in the bathroom for a while and only came out to ignore Jay for the rest of the afternoon.

But even at four pm he stood by her door with his bags ready to go down with her.

"You can refuse to talk to me but I'm still gonna try. I'm your best friend Q. August was working here the whole day so he's waiting anyway."

Silently she followed him to the elevator

"He calls you Queen?" Jay said. And he scoffed.

She just looked to the side, "Whatever dude."

But Jay wasn't keeping quiet today, "You know, of all the one nights stands that have occurred, it's only a few times that people want something to do with you in the daylight the next day. Let alone in what could be a complex situation. And it always interests me how the dude is always painted out to be the bad guy, the one at fault."

She looked at him, but he was looking at himself in the elevator mirror.

"Are you trying to lecture me?" She turned to face him

"Well it's funny I should call this a one night stand because from what I understood about August Park it wasn't. Not to him anyway" he tsked, "Not until you shut him out."

"What?? Are you honestly blaming this on me right now? Really Jay?"

"Look Q, I'm not blaming anyone for anything here, what happen already happened; you're my friend, I love you, deeply, I do. And you know I'll always support you. But I only want you to be as happy as you also always want me to be."

He then looked at her reflection, "I mean to say I hope you're taking careful steps, and that you're not being the asshole that everyone wallows about after s*x. That man wants to be with despite the odds and you're pushing away that effort. That rather rare effort."